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American Morning
Eating Right Doesn't Have to be Complex
Aired September 19, 2002 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Low in fat, high in vitamins, organic, irradiated, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, free radicals. Shopping for healthy food is more complicated by the day. Frankly, I'm sick of it.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to make it a little easier for us this morning -- good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I hope I can clear up a little of the confusion. We are talking about transgenic foods, cloned foods, all these different sorts of foods, but traditional foods as well, and some of them really pack a punch.
We've talked about a lot here on "American Morning," and certainly, we are going to try and put it in a little bit more perspective -- listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Today, there were two new studies that show eating certain foods rich in Vitamin E and C...
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA (voice-over): It's enough to make your head spin. Study after study touting this food or that food as essential to your health. Well, take heart. Dietitians say sorting through all of the scientific babble may be no harder than counting from one to ten, as in ten foods guaranteed to be good for you, all of them easy to find and affordable.
Tomatoes, almost anyway you want them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ketchup, tomato sauces, tomato paste.
GUPTA: Studies show tomatoes help reduce the risk of several types of cancer.
Eggs, once a boogie man for the cholesterol conscious, now fortified with omega free fatty acids.
And...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are shown to help reduce blood cholesterol levels, and they just help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
GUPTA: Soy helps reduce the risk of cancers, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soy hot dogs, soy style deli meat, soy milk, soy cheese, soy yogurt.
GUPTA: Fatty fish, such as tuna, mackerel, and salmon, are rich in essential fatty acids. That is the good kind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fatty acids help lower blood cholesterol and have an aspirin-like effect.
GUPTA: Green tea, lower in caffeine than coffee or other teas, and good for warding off heart disease and cancer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There doesn't seem to be any limitation in the amount of tea that you can drink. The health benefits don't stop if you have more than five cups a day.
GUPTA: The key to good health may grow on trees -- and bushes. Citrus fruits contained nutrients to help prevent cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer, such as breast, colon, and colorectal.
Darker-colored berries, such as cranberries and blueberries contain potent antioxidants that may help prevent neurological disease.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other diseases of the blood-brain barrier.
GUPTA: Oats lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.
And then there is broccoli.
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm president of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.
GUPTA: Was he ever wrong about broccoli.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Broccoli is one of the best disease fighters you can have, because it's rich in a cytonutrient (ph) nutrient called soforofane (ph), and soforofane (ph) has been shown in several studies to switch off enzymes that trigger certain types of cancer, namely breast cancer and colon cancer.
GUPTA: Broccoli's nutrients also reduce the risk of heart disease.
And finally, believe it or not, chocolate. It can be good for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chocolate contains flavonoids, and these are some of the compounds that are in fruits and vegetables that help protect the heart from heart disease.
GUPTA: Chocolate as a health food? Who knew?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Paula, billions of dollars a year spent on vitamins, supplements, all these sorts of things to try and make you live longer, prevent heart attacks, prevent stroke, all that sort of stuff. The best solutions might be right in front of us in the grocery stores.
ZAHN: I know the best solution, flavonoids, the chocolate way.
GUPTA: That is real popular.
ZAHN: You know, you walk down the aisle of any grocery store, and as you think about all of these conflicting studies, it is like eat me, kill me, you are just awash in a sea of these studies.
GUPTA: Right.
ZAHN: The bottom line is, this is the simplest information we have kind of known for a long time, right, tomatoes, broccoli...
GUPTA: There are some really good foods out there. We tried to list some of those for you. One of the things that I -- people talk about a lot is lycopenes which is sort of an interesting word, but basically the thing that you find in brilliant red tomatoes. You can only, almost, find them in tomatoes. They fight colorectal cancer, prostate cancer. They are associated with reduced heart attacks, stroke. You can get those in tomatoes, a great food.
ZAHN: Does it have to be from a fresh tomato, or do you get the same benefit if you squish it all up in a tomato sauce?
GUPTA: You can get still the same benefit in sort of herbal sauces, tomato sauces. The brilliant red tomatoes, the vine ripened tomatoes, those are the ones that are recommended the most.
ZAHN: Will you go shopping for all of us, doctor?
GUPTA: Absolutely. I'll do that right now.
ZAHN: We appreciate that. CNN Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 19, 2002 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Low in fat, high in vitamins, organic, irradiated, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, free radicals. Shopping for healthy food is more complicated by the day. Frankly, I'm sick of it.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to make it a little easier for us this morning -- good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I hope I can clear up a little of the confusion. We are talking about transgenic foods, cloned foods, all these different sorts of foods, but traditional foods as well, and some of them really pack a punch.
We've talked about a lot here on "American Morning," and certainly, we are going to try and put it in a little bit more perspective -- listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Today, there were two new studies that show eating certain foods rich in Vitamin E and C...
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA (voice-over): It's enough to make your head spin. Study after study touting this food or that food as essential to your health. Well, take heart. Dietitians say sorting through all of the scientific babble may be no harder than counting from one to ten, as in ten foods guaranteed to be good for you, all of them easy to find and affordable.
Tomatoes, almost anyway you want them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ketchup, tomato sauces, tomato paste.
GUPTA: Studies show tomatoes help reduce the risk of several types of cancer.
Eggs, once a boogie man for the cholesterol conscious, now fortified with omega free fatty acids.
And...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are shown to help reduce blood cholesterol levels, and they just help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
GUPTA: Soy helps reduce the risk of cancers, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soy hot dogs, soy style deli meat, soy milk, soy cheese, soy yogurt.
GUPTA: Fatty fish, such as tuna, mackerel, and salmon, are rich in essential fatty acids. That is the good kind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fatty acids help lower blood cholesterol and have an aspirin-like effect.
GUPTA: Green tea, lower in caffeine than coffee or other teas, and good for warding off heart disease and cancer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There doesn't seem to be any limitation in the amount of tea that you can drink. The health benefits don't stop if you have more than five cups a day.
GUPTA: The key to good health may grow on trees -- and bushes. Citrus fruits contained nutrients to help prevent cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer, such as breast, colon, and colorectal.
Darker-colored berries, such as cranberries and blueberries contain potent antioxidants that may help prevent neurological disease.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other diseases of the blood-brain barrier.
GUPTA: Oats lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.
And then there is broccoli.
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm president of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.
GUPTA: Was he ever wrong about broccoli.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Broccoli is one of the best disease fighters you can have, because it's rich in a cytonutrient (ph) nutrient called soforofane (ph), and soforofane (ph) has been shown in several studies to switch off enzymes that trigger certain types of cancer, namely breast cancer and colon cancer.
GUPTA: Broccoli's nutrients also reduce the risk of heart disease.
And finally, believe it or not, chocolate. It can be good for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chocolate contains flavonoids, and these are some of the compounds that are in fruits and vegetables that help protect the heart from heart disease.
GUPTA: Chocolate as a health food? Who knew?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Paula, billions of dollars a year spent on vitamins, supplements, all these sorts of things to try and make you live longer, prevent heart attacks, prevent stroke, all that sort of stuff. The best solutions might be right in front of us in the grocery stores.
ZAHN: I know the best solution, flavonoids, the chocolate way.
GUPTA: That is real popular.
ZAHN: You know, you walk down the aisle of any grocery store, and as you think about all of these conflicting studies, it is like eat me, kill me, you are just awash in a sea of these studies.
GUPTA: Right.
ZAHN: The bottom line is, this is the simplest information we have kind of known for a long time, right, tomatoes, broccoli...
GUPTA: There are some really good foods out there. We tried to list some of those for you. One of the things that I -- people talk about a lot is lycopenes which is sort of an interesting word, but basically the thing that you find in brilliant red tomatoes. You can only, almost, find them in tomatoes. They fight colorectal cancer, prostate cancer. They are associated with reduced heart attacks, stroke. You can get those in tomatoes, a great food.
ZAHN: Does it have to be from a fresh tomato, or do you get the same benefit if you squish it all up in a tomato sauce?
GUPTA: You can get still the same benefit in sort of herbal sauces, tomato sauces. The brilliant red tomatoes, the vine ripened tomatoes, those are the ones that are recommended the most.
ZAHN: Will you go shopping for all of us, doctor?
GUPTA: Absolutely. I'll do that right now.
ZAHN: We appreciate that. CNN Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
